Free Righteous Lies (Book 1: Dancing Moon Ranch Series) by Patricia Watters Page A

can't bring a baby here. It's unsanitary. It doesn't look like you've
cleaned in months."
    "Look,
I'll get the place cleaned in time," Jack said. "I've been busy. I'll
be hiring a cleaning woman to come in once a week. One bedroom's already a nursery."
    Grace eyed him
with uncertainty. "I want to see it." Judging from the rest of the
house, she couldn't imagine a room suitable for a baby.
    "It's just
baby furniture right now," Jack said.
    Grace followed
Jack down a hallway to a bedroom. Although bare of curtains, the room contained
a crib, a changing table, a small dresser, a rocker, and a low stool. The
furniture looked used, so she assumed Jack picked it up at a garage sale.
"It's okay but you need to sponge it all off with disinfectant before you bring
the baby here," she said, finding it odd that Jack hadn't bought new
furniture, obsessive as he was about the baby.
    "It'll be
ready by the time he's here," Jack replied.
    Grace sat in
the rocker, and said, while rocking slowly, "You'll have to hire someone
to look after him when he's here. You can't do it and run the ranch and I doubt
Flo would be up to looking after a newborn."
    Jack stood
watching her, an odd look on his face she didn't try to make sense of. Jack was
a complex man. Trying to interpret his state of mind from his facial
expressions would defy the best psychologist. "You do intend to hire someone,
don't you?" she asked, when he didn't reply.
    "I've got
it worked out," Jack said. "I'm moving you to the ranch. We'll sell
your house and I'll build you one here. And our son—"
    "He needs
a name," Grace cut in. "We can't keep calling him our son, or the
boy, or the baby. I don't think of him as Marc anymore, and you don't want to
name him after you, for whatever reason, even though I think Jack junior would
be nice."
    "I'll pick
up a book of names," Jack said. "For now, I'll clean the back bedroom
and move you there. That way you'll be here when you go into labor, and after
he's born, I can help you when he wakes at night to be fed."
    Grace eyed Jack
with irritation. "And after my house is built? Do you plan to install an
intercom so you can come whenever I call?" she said, with an edge of
sarcasm. But she was at wits end with Jack constantly micromanaging her life.
    "I already
planned to do that," Jack said.
    "You just
don't get it," Grace burst out. "I like my house. I spent hours
fixing up the nursery, I have friends nearby, and I have a job."
    "You won't
need a job here," Jack insisted. "All you have to do is take care of
our son. I'd see that the two of you have everything you need."
    "What if I
decide to get married again?" Grace said. "Would I be able to bring
my new husband out here to live?"
    It was the
space of several heartbeats before Jack said, simply, "I don't know."
    "Well, I
do know," Grace said. "I lost a man I loved, but I don't plan to
spend my life alone. I want a husband and children, and that won't happen if
I'm stuck out here."
    "You can
move here for now," Jack replied. "Maybe later things will be
different."
    "I'm not
going to move in with you," Grace said. "Because of our
circumstances, you've been privy to things only a husband should be involved
with. I also agreed to let you be present during the delivery. But we're not
married, and I won't stay here with you, even if we'd be in separate
bedrooms."
    "Then I
suppose we could—" Jack stopped. And shrugged.
    When he offered
nothing more, Grace said, "One more week, then I'm moving back to my
house. There's nothing for me here." She pushed out of the rocker and
started down the hallway.
    Jack caught up
with her and took her by the arm. "There's a lot you don't know, things
that happened. Maybe after the baby's born we can talk. But for now—" he moved
slowly toward her "—I want to have you nearby when you go into
labor." His eyes fixed on hers, then dropped to her lips. To her shock, he
pulled her to him and kissed her, and she curved her arms around his neck and
kissed him back,